Ship Models Preserving Maritime History

Xebec Wooden Model Ship

The three masted Xebec was used for centuries in the Mediterranean as a merchant ship because of its speed and shallow draught. It was not long before Corsairs, the pirates of the Mediterranean, decided on the Xebec as their vessel of choice for lightening fast attacks on heavier merchant ships. With its fourteen cannons slug low in the waists, the Xebec would hole her prey just inches above the waterline making escape impossible. Six culverins were mounted along the poop deck for close action or just in case the crew tried to mutiny. Oars were used when the wind failed giving the Xebec the upper hand in attacking other vessels or fleeing the authorities.

HMS Endeavour Tall Ship Model  source 

Boat Name: HMS Endeavour
Year Launched: 1764
Country: Great Britain
Guns: 22

Actual Dimensions of Model: Length 32 inches, Height 28 inches.
Year Model Built: August 28, 2002- October 24, 2002
Model Construction Hours: 355 Hours

Historical Significance: 
HMS Endeavour, also known as HM Bark Endeavour, was a British Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery, to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771.

Launched in 1764 as the collier Earl of Pembroke, she was purchased by the Navy in 1768 for a scientific mission to the Pacific Ocean, and to explore the seas for the surmised Terra Australis Incognita or “unknown southern land”. Renamed and commissioned as His Majesty’s Bark the Endeavour, she departed Plymouth in August 1768, rounded Cape Horn, and reached Tahiti in time to observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun.

Bluenose Ship Model source 

Boat Name: Bluenose
Year Launched: 1921
Country: Canada

Actual Dimensions of Model: Length 30 inches, Height 27 inches
Year Model Built: January 30, 2002 – February 28, 2002
Model Construction Hours: 158 hours

Historical Significance: 
In the shipping and yachting history the schooner Bluenose is mentioned several times. She was launched in Nova Scotia in 1921 and was built to be a fishing boat to operate in the rough waters off the coast of Newfoundland. Very soon her speed became apparent and she won all the great classic sailing races on the American east coast. Her fame as a fishing boat that had become the fastest yacht was widespread and she was stamped on coins and printed on stamps.

Her glorious career was finished in 1946 on a reef near Haiti. Money was raised to launch an exact copy, Bluenose II, in 1964. Since then this boat has been a vivid and very fine symbol of bygone days.

Amerigo Vespucci Ship Model source 

Boat Name: Amerigo Vespucci
Year Launched: 1931
Country: Italy
Constructed By: General Lieutenant Francesco Rotundi of the Italian Navy Engineering Corps at the (formerly Royal) Naval Shipyard of Castellammare di Stabia (Naples).
Size: 82.4 m (270.34 ft) long, with an overall length of 101 m (331 ft) including the bowsprit and a maximum width of 15.5 m (51 ft)
Crew: 450

Actual Dimensions of Model: Length 55 inches. Height 32 inches
Year Model Built: June 28, 2007- November 4, 2007
Model Construction Hours: 735

Historical Significance: 
The Amerigo Vespucci is a tall ship of the Marina Militare, named after the explorer Amerigo Vespucci. Its home port is Livorno, Italy, and it is in use as a school ship. In 1925, the Regia Marina ordered two school ships to a design by General Lieutenant Francesco Rotundi of the Italian Navy Engineering Corps, inspired by the style of large late 18th century 74-cannon ships of the line (like the neapolitan ship “Monarca”). The first, the Cristoforo Colombo, was put into service in 1928 and was used by the Italian Navy until 1943. After World War II, this ship was handed over to the USSR as part of the war reparations and was shortly afterwards decommissioned.

The second ship was the Amerigo Vespucci, built in 1930 at the (formerly Royal) Naval Shipyard of Castellammare di Stabia (Naples). She was launched on February 22, 1931, and put into service in July of that year.

French 74 Gun Model Ship source 

The "seventy-four" was a type of two-decked sailing ship of the line which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s and spread to the British Royal Navy where they were classed as third rates. From here, they spread to the Spanish, Dutch, Danish and Russian navies. The design was considered a good balance between firepower and sailing qualities, but more importantly, it was an appealing ideal for naval administrators and bureaucrats. Seventy-fours became a mainstay of the world's fleets into the early 19th century when they began to be supplanted by new designs and by the introduction of steam powered ironclads.

As a standard type, the seventy-four was only an ideal construction. There was great variation between seventy-fours of different navies. In the period 1750-90, different ships could have displacements of anything at just under 2,000 tonnes up to 3,000 tonnes. The armament could also vary considerably with everything from 24-pounder to long 36-pounder guns and some seventy-four of the Danish navy actually only had 70 guns.

source wikipedia 

Columbus's Fleet Maria, Nina and Pinta Models source 

Miniature Ship Model source 

Amerigo Vespucci Italian Tall Ship